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SOLD

Bugei Hanwei Shobu Tanto

Fine-tuned a bit for no apparent reason. :)

$425 USD plus shipping/paypal fees/insurance

Yes, this is a "stock" Bugei Shobu Zukuri tanto. Nifty blade. This is the unfolded swedish powdered steel Hanwei uses. The blade was made for Bugei and is their "shobu" style piece. Hamidashi iron tsuba, thick seppa, and a simple, mean and nasty blade.

A friend of mine had one of these brand new as a gift but needed some repair work done on his training sword. So as a favor to a good friend I took the tanto (and some good beer) in trade for the work he needed done. The tanto was never used.

So I'd had this for a while in my safe. I got it down recently when I noticed it hiding quietly behind overdue work in the firesafe and I got it out to check it out. Everything fit beautifully, tight koiguchi, well fit tsuka, etc. I looked at the simple suguha (flat) hamon and I was thinking how nice it is that Hanwei will occasionally do something other than their typical "bouncy" hamon when I noticed there were some interesting little variations in the hamon. Subtle stuff to be sure, but it wasn't just your normal Hard edge/Soft back transition. Look near the habaki in the next photo -- the habuchi (transition zone) is a bit wider there with just a little more variety than you usually see in production work.

So it widens a bit as it comes into the habaki. The suguha isn't absolutely flat but just with the slightest bits of undulation in it. So I put the blade on my table and worked it just a bit. I cleared a lot of the residual oxides from the factory finish. I brought up the contrast a bit in the blade and I got the shinogi ji a bit nicer looking. Nothing fancy, just a minor "make it look a bit better" run.

And since I had the fittings off I cleaned up the seppa and habaki and put them into my gold plating tank for a while as I was plating some parts for another project that evening. Again, nothing fancy, but now they're 24k gold plated rather than "gold-colored". Most won't notice the difference, but it made me feel better about it.

All in all it is a very nice blade given what it is. Sharp, well done, and looks a bit better now if I do say so myself.

Once I finished I did have to ask myself why I spent the hours doing all that stuff. Honestly, I don't know, but it was out and I have a hard time leaving well enough alone.

There's even a sort of cool "smokey" drift off the hamon up in the turnback. This came out only after I worked the surface a bit to subdue to overenthusiastic finish hanwei sometimes puts on these pieces. That finish makes the hamon brightly visible but it tends to obscure the more subtle stuff. The photo above also shows how the hamon goes from very finely defined to a bit wider near the habaki. Kinda cool. That's the subtle stuff...

So... To avoid the inevitable questions from my wife about why I have a piece like this when we have bills coming up (kid's summer camp looming), the blade is for sale.

New from Bugei Trading these are around $400 if I remember correctly. I'm selling this for $425 so I can at least tell the wife I'm selling it for more than what it cost given I put hours of work into the thing. Heck, try to get anything gold plated at your local jeweler for less than that! And I put on a relatively thick gold plate!

Comes with the usual black storage bag. No cleaning kit, sorry, I don't use them. Windex and light mineral oil works fine for me... :)

PRICE: $425 USD -- SOLD

Shipping, insurance, paypal fees all extra.

If you're interested, contact me at: keith@summerchild.com

Home | Available for Sale | Photos of my Work | Blade Restoration and Polishing
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